With the awareness of the public regarding contaminated foods, the requirements for sanitation are greater than ever before. The requirements for sanitation these days are so extreme, that there is a even a substantial amount of interference with the enjoyment of the ever popular ice cream cone.
Customarily, edible containers known as cones are manufactured, nested or stacked one within another, packaged, and shipped to an end user. Each cone is removed from the package one at a time and is sold by the end uses to a consumer. Customarily there is no cover on the cone. So a cone can come into direct skin contact with someone other than the end consumer.
Since the development of the ice cream cone at the St. Louis World's Fair about one hundred years ago, an ice cream cone is known to produce great enjoyment. An ice cream store can have many varieties of ice cream and hand pack the desired flavor into the desired cone. It is difficult to accomplish this function under the extreme sanitary conditions of today.
However, sanitation and cleanliness are even more important in the food industry. It is difficult to avoid direct skin to food contact in an ice cream cone. With the widespread fear of infectious disease, the enjoyment of an ice cream cone can be substantially reduced.
It is known to provide some protection devices to an ice cream cone. Most of these known protection devices are either inefficient or too expensive. For example, merely wrapping a paper around the ice cream cone is an inefficient way of protecting the ice cream cone. Not only is it difficult to provide an efficient wrapping of the cone, direct skin to cone contact cannot be easily avoided as the paper is wrapped therearound.
Providing a cup in which to insert the ice cream cone for protection or sanitation adds to the expense of the cone. A cup is relatively expensive to manufacture. Then a separate step of inserting the cone in the cup is required. These factors complicate the serving of the cone, while adding substantially to the expense thereof.
Furthermore, a cone containing ice cream is known to leak. When a cone leaks, at least the person's hands become soiled or sticky. Such stickiness is uncomfortable at best and damaging to a person's clothes at worst.
Also, it is advisable to have a cleaning device available for solving this problem. If the cone can be protected while at the same time providing this cleaning device, a great advantage is obtained.